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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (10837)	4/2/2001 5:30:55 PM
From: geoffrey Wren	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12823

My survey on cable: Know three people who have tried it: One in Salt Lake City tried cable for several months, gave it up for DSL. Said cable was simple off line more often than not. Not so pleased with DSL either, but more reliable. One in Fremont, CA, got cable, after about two weeks of it never working, had them take it out. He cannot get DSL, so he uses a 56k modem. One in Alameda, CA, is reasonably pleased with cable. Seems to be available most times. However, he has internet availability in the office, so probably a day off here and there is no major bother to him. The ex-CEO from ADC said the problem was that not enough people were willing to pay $40 for broadband. I think he is wrong. IF there were reliable (>99%) broadband, that overall was noticeably better than 56k modems, I think a lot of people would sign up for it. After all, for $20 more per month, you free up a phone line, and get faster speed. For that matter, if 56K modems worked without constant waiting, and at speeds normally approaching 56k, a lot of people probably would not have a great desire for broadband. For functions such as reading bulletin boards, the main wait is waiting for the download to start for the next page. I've had this problem for all three ISP's I have used. I assume it is endemic. I'd be willing to pay an extra $10 just to have my ISP work halfway to the potential of 56k. I wonder when available services will really improve for the common consumer.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (10837)	4/2/2001 5:58:00 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Interesting, Mike. I get near instantaneous response from my roadrunner cm. Could never go back to dial, or the slower dsl link for that matter, even though it will never be available in my neck of the woods anyway.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (10837)	4/2/2001 10:10:11 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

Thanks Mike for enduring that obviously disappointing and painful (?) account of your CM experiences. I'm aware of some users' experiences on CM that are pointed 180 degrees out of phase with yours, but they are on relatively new, or still sparsely populated, systems. Some are the only subscribers on their entire segments, so far. That's why I asked you if you would characterize the teledensity in your locale, and on your system specifically, if you know. I don't take any comfort in any user's struggles, btw, in contrast to some bashing I've received on some of these accounts becuase of my preferences for an all fiber solution. I'm a believer in ongoing upgrades -actually, if the end game is in sight, I'm a stronger believer in jumping right to it without numerous incrementals, but that's another story. Even where black coax is destined to be the delivery mechanism of choice for the next ten years, I know that deeper penetrations of fiber into neighborhoods, and a more intelligent breakout in the last 1000 feet, are some methods that may signal a rescue for systems that face impending congestion. Some systems have a ways to go before the flags start appearing, but I'm hearing with increasing frequency where some systems' days are already numbered unless they perform triage soon. It sounds very much like yours is one of those. But upgrades take capex, and a will on the parts of the MSOs, to provide optimum service. With the present backdrop of startup failures in the dsl space (including an entire herd of retail outlets we never hear about that depended on wholesalers such as Northpoint, and now apparently others) I don't see the same level of incentive on the parts of the MSOs to bite the bullet and spend what is needed. Nor do I see the ILECs motivated to the same extent that they were only a year ago to compete with all of the above. It goes back to the old game of 'chicken' that I used to talk about upstream. Maybe there is a hole forming for wireless entry here, if they can get their price points and deployment strategies right. Who knows. I took special note to the following in you post: "BTW, when I pull up TV guide or movie theater listings, it's a painfully slow process. So it makes me wonder exactly what advantage I have. I can dial-up and get the movie or TV listings just as quickly as my cable modem will allow. In other words, not only is the local loop of poor quality, the Internet IMO is plain broken too. But what new technology hasn't been when first rolled out? "I expect the Internet is not an exception. Someday it will work reliably. At least that's my hope as I pour tons of investments dollars into the telecommunications black hole." To wit: Message 15598337 FAC